Randi Pankratz now has two VRA Focus Midget wins in a row and three for the season.

Jeff Dyer wins the California Lightning Sprint Main.

Ventura Raceway returned to car racing after two weeks of motorcycle racing and a weekend off for the Fourth of July holiday. Saturday night, July 9, saw the season continue with a great night of exciting short track racing. Despite smaller than usual car counts, in some classes, competition was very close and hard fought from top to bottom in each event.

In VRA Sprints, 9 cars signed into the pits for the night’s action. Rising star Austen Figueroa took his first ever VRA Sprint Car win in a 20 lap main event that saw Wally Pankratz lead early only to fall out in an incident with Guy Woodward. After the restart, Figueroa jumped out front and stayed there as he took his first win over 2014 series champ, Kyle Smith, Ron Bach, Guy Woodward and series point leader Rick Hendrix. Heat race wins went to Rick Hendrix and Austen Figueroa. Rick Hendrix now is leading in the point race by 55 points over Guy Woodward after nine races.

VRA Dwarf Cars were in action Saturday with Johnny Conley taking his sixth VRA Pro Dwarf Car win in 2016. The race was a very good race with 14 of the 18 starters finishing on the lead lap. Johnny Conley’s win was over Jason Horton, Tommy Velasquez III, Jeff Fillingame and Gage Cheek. Their four heat races went to Jeff Fillingame, Jason Horton, Brandon Busenbark and David Taylor Jr. There were 22 dwarf cars signed in for the night’s action. After 9 races in 2016, Johnny Conley leads Jeff Fillingame by 85 points in the season long points race.

IMCA Modified action saw former track champion Aaron Rodarte take another win over a field of nine modifieds. He took the lead on lap five and was never headed in the 20 lap race. Following him to the finish line were Andrew Greiman, Trevor Fitzgibbon, making his first modified start, Tim Morse and Jack Parker. There were two heat races run, with the wins going to Luis Espinoza and Andrew Greiman. Jack Parker now leads Andrew Greiman by 6 points after nine races in 2016.

Jeff Dyer took the 25 lap California Lightning Sprint Main event over Alex Gregorias and Bobby Michnowicz. These winged cars have proven to be crowd favorites. They will be back in action at the 2016 Fair event on August 3.

The final group racing Saturday night was the VRA Focus Midgets. A small field of 5 cars ran one heat race that went to Joel Rayborne. Their 20 lap main event was won by Randi Pankratz over Daniel Anderson, Mike Leach, and Joel Rayborne. Daniel Anderson leads the point race in this series by 110 over Mike Leach after seven races.

Ventura Raceway continues its 2016 season next Saturday July 16, with a full program of VRA Sprints, Senior Sprints, Dwarf Cars, Hobby Stocks, IMCA Modifieds and Go Karts.